The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 12

Meredith

I OPEN MY eyes from the bright sunlight washing over in the room. I pull myself up from the window bench and look around the room, seeing that Carl remained sleeping. I pull myself from the window bench and made my way over to him. Rick and Lori enter the room and I gave them a slight smile, greeting them.

"Morning." Rick greets.

"Checking up on him?" Lori asks. I laid my hand across Carl's forehead and noticed he wasn't burning up like he was yesterday.

"Fever's gone down." I inform them. Carl's body moves a bit and his eyes open up. Rick and Lori greet him with smiles as his eyes searched around.

"Sofia?" He whispers. "Is she okay?" I pull my eyes away and look at the parents. We aren't sure if Sofia is still missing or not. Glenn and T-Dog showed up, yet they told us Sophia hadn't been found yet. Maybe things changed while the others remained back on the highway.

"Fine." Rick answers. "She's fine."

"Rest." Lori instructs him. "We'll be right here, okay?" Carl nods his head and his eyes fall down.

"I'll check on him in an hour." I inform them.

"Thank you, Meredith." Lori softly smiles. I gave her a nod and exited out of the room. I stepped out onto the porch, feeling that fresh air running over my skin. I inhaled deeply, blowing it out through my mouth. I stretched my ams out and bent my back backwards a little, relieving some of the ache in it.

I turned my eyes to the left of me, seeing somebody peeking from behind the tree. I furrow my brows, holding the stare with it for a moment before shaking my head. It's not real. There's nothing there.

The familiar sound of Daryl's bike fills my ears. I turn my head to the long gravel driveway and see the top of the RV appearing. The others were finally here.

Daryl, Dale and Carol park their cars in the yard. Each of them climbed out and came towards the house, Rick and Lori stepping outside to join my side. I turn my eyes and lock them with Daryl. He remained sitting on his bike, holding a stare with me. His eyes drop down to the boot around my foot, his brows furrowing down in either confusion, curiosity or worry.

"How is he?" Dale asks.

"He'll pull through, thanks t-to Meredith, Hershel and his people." Lori smiles.

"And Shane." Rick adds. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Everyone embraces the family in hugs.

"How'd it happen?" Daryl asks.

"Hunting accident." Rick explains, keeping things short. "That's all- just a stupid accident."

"Meredith?" Carol asks. I look down at the boot.

"Oh, uh, there was a bear trap hidden under the leaves." I explain. "I stepped on it. Didn't hit bone or cut my foot off. Just some stitches here and there. It's all okay." I nodded.

"She's only using the boot to keep most of the weight off of it." Hershel explains.

We all had plans today; set up camp, find Sophia, make sure everyone's okay. Hershel doesn't want us on his land with guns. Rick managed to talk him into allowing at least Dale with a gun, just to keep watch. I wasn't exactly excited to hand over my gun to Rick and Shane. However, they don't know about that gun that I found in the car on the highway. Not about the gun, not about the three boxes of ammo. Fine by me. At least I'm the safe one here.

Hershel offered to basically be the nurse of Carl now. Now that Carl made it out of the woods, my job with Carl is basically done. Of course, I'll go check on him myself here and there. But for now, Hershel asks me to keep off my foot now. He wants me to build up the strength in it. Walking around with the boot is fine and all, but it was mostly temporary for the standing for the surgery.